


my soul could not part from yours

by cryptidserpent



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Ghost Loki, Ghosts, Its tagged MCD but I promise its ok, M/M, Maybe OOC, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Odin is an asswipe, Resurrection???, Suicide mention, Thor: The Dark World, ghost kisses, happy ending??, idk how to tag, this is coming from someone that hates MCD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 03:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14685114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptidserpent/pseuds/cryptidserpent
Summary: Thor has lost his brother several times already, and each time said brother has come back to him. This time Loki returns in a slightly unconventional way.





	my soul could not part from yours

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a writing prompt about someone being a ghost and then I thought hey! I should write a thorki fic where Loki is a ghost because why the hell not. The end of Dark World seemed the best place to put this.

When Thor returned to Asgard after defeating the Dark Elves on Midgard, he was fully prepared to turn down an offer of kingship. He was not, however, prepared to learn that Loki had not died on Svartalfheim, but had returned to Asgard unscathed, only to be slaughtered by their father upon his return. When Odin told Thor this, he flew into a blind rage. If it were not for the fact that Odin had anticipated this response, he and many of the palace guards would likely be dead.

Odin stood in front of Thor, who was restrained by several guards, holding Mjolnir like it was a scared animal that could break free at any moment. “You and your mother,” sneered Odin, “always loved that traitor too much.”

“HE WAS YOUR SON,” bellowed Thor as the guards dragged him away from Odin. “HOW COULD YOU KILL YOUR OWN SON?”

“How could I?” Odin sneered. “He meant to take my thrown and banish me to Midgard. How could I not? I gave him a proper burial in the crypt. I suggest you take some time to mourn and stay out of my way, my son.”

“YOU ARE NO FATHER OF MINE,” screamed Thor as the guards threw him out of the throne room and in the direction of the crypt.

Thor stumbled down the stone stairs into the crypt where he fell at the side of Loki’s tomb. Tears poured down his cheeks and he could hear the sound of thunder strike menacingly from outside the palace.

Every time he lost Loki, Thor felt as though his world was ending. He considered killing himself, but how he would go about it presented something of a challenge. At the very least, he reasoned, he would return to Midgard where he could be free of Odin’s presence. He could always kill himself later.

Before he could consider the suicide option more thoroughly, Thor was shaken from his mental lament by a hollow, yet familiar voice:

 “I guess you really do mourn me.”

Startled, Thor lifted his head from the stone of Loki’s grave. He saw rather than felt his hand reach for a small pebble to his side and toss it at the figure of his supposedly-dead brother.

The pebble passed straight through Loki’s Jotun form, and Thor felt a familiar rage bubble up inside him.

 “Where are you Loki?” Thor thundered. “Where have you hidden yourself this time?”

Loki appeared uncharacteristically dejected. “I am stuck, brother, between here and nowhere.”

Thor bristled. “I am not in the mood for riddles, Loki.”

“It is not a riddle, dear brother. I was indeed slain by Odin, but I did not travel to Valhalla, nor to Hel. Instead I remain here, trapped between life and death.”

“You are a ghost?” Thor asked incredulously.

Loki’s nose wrinkled. _Adorably,_ supplied Thor’s traitorous brain.

“I suppose you could say that,” allowed Loki.

“Norns,” Thor cursed, feeling overwhelmed by the events of the past minute, which he thinks could be considered unusual even by his and Loki’s standards. From what Thor had heard, the deceased only take the form of a ghost if they have an extremely powerful connection to something in the living world. “Do you know if – if there’s a way to come back? Because you -” Thor could feel his eyes start to sting again as hot tears tried to slip free. “You can’t stay in limbo forever.”

Loki said nothing, instead approaching his tomb where Thor was still sitting and cautiously placed his ghostly blue hand atop Thor’s solid one. For a moment, Thor even thought he could feel Loki’s smooth flesh against his fingers. “I was waiting for you, you know.”

Thor felt startled. “What?”

Loki smiled sadly, looking almost guilty. “Before you came to visit me, I was not capable of leaving my tomb. I was aware that my soul remained here on Asgard, but it was as if I lacked the energy to stray from my body. Then when you returned from Midgard, I felt as if my soul were able to separate itself from my corpse and become a separate entity. It seems as though I needed your permission, dear brother.”

Thor felt as though his world was crashing down around him for the second time that day. Loki was sitting close enough to him now that he could feel the way the air seemed to frost over around him. “Why?” he choked out. “Why would you need my permission?”

Loki brought his other hand up to Thor’s cheek and caressed it gently. It felt as though he had lain his cheek in a soft patch of snow. “I think you know. Surely you have heard the same tales as I. The stories of the dead who have remained among the living simply because they could not leave. My soul could not part from yours.”

Thor’s breath was coming hard and fast as Loki leaned forward and nuzzled against his cheek. Hot tears hissed as they met the ice of Loki’s ghostly form. “Brother,” Thor sobbed. “It is my fault that you are dead.”

Loki pressed a barely-there finger to his brother’s lips and began to pepper icy kisses across his face and neck.

“If I hadn’t thought you dead on Svartalfheim,” continued Thor stubbornly, “then you would never have returned to Asgard to be slaughtered by our father.”

“Your father,” Loki corrected, frowning. “And you mustn’t blame yourself for the consequences of my own search for power. I was doomed long before our encounter with the Dark Elves.”

“Do not say such things!” Thor had always been an angry crier. “If I had not freed you from your cell then you would still be alive!”

“And your precious Midgardian could be dead,” quipped Loki. “Would you really take such a chance?”

Thor leaned forward to kiss the soft ice of Loki’s lips. “For you, my love, no chance is too great.”

Loki rolled his ruby-red eyes. “Thor. Stop talking. You’re not very good at it.”

Thor smiled softly. “You are lying. You love when I talk this way.”

“Hmm,” Loki hummed with false thoughtfulness. He wrapped his icy arms around Thor’s neck and slipped closer so that their torsos were pressed together, thin ice to solid warmth. “Perhaps you are right, brother. I do so love when you stroke my ego.”

“I know you too well, Loki. You cannot fool me so easily.”

Loki actually laughed. A thin, hollow sound, but Thor delighted in it just the same. “Don’t be silly, dear Thor. I have been fooling you since you could walk.”

At the mention of their childhood, Thor felt ice that had nothing to do with Loki creep into his chest. He clutched Loki closer to his chest and was so distracted by his melancholy that he did not even notice that Loki’s back felt much more solid beneath his palms than a ghost’s probably should have.

“Accompany me to my chambers,” Thor pleaded.

Loki’s icy form stiffened in his arms.

“Are you not able to leave the crypt?” Thor asked, worried.

There was a brief moment of silence before Loki replied, “No, I suppose that I…can. I just, do not want you to get too attached.”

“Loki,” Thor said fiercely. “I will not let you leave me again. I shall will you back into existence myself if I have to.”

“Alright, brother,” Loki said so softly that it was almost a whisper. “I shall stay with you tonight.”

Taking his brother’s icy hand, Thor began the ascent up the great stone steps of the crypt. “Wait,” Thor paused at the top of the stairs. “Will others be able to see you?”

Loki shook his said. “No. Not if I don’t want them to.” And so the brothers made their way to Thor’s chambers without incident.

When they arrived, Thor stripped down to his undergarments before sliding into bed. “Come here, brother.”

Loki paused at the foot of the bed as if he had not slept there hundreds of times before. “I’m like ice, Thor. I do not want you to become frozen in your sleep.”

“Loki, I am the God of Thunder. A little ice will not harm me.”

Loki huffed indignantly but slipped under the covers beside Thor just the same. He lay his fingertips across Thor’s brow and whispered, “Sleep, brother dear. I shall not leave your side.”

And so Thor slept beside his brother for the first time in months. Loki remained pressed close to his side, stroking icy fingers along Thor’s brow until he too, fell into a state of unconsciousness.

-

From his post at the Bifrost observatory, Heimdall felt a warm tug in the recess of his mind signaling the addition of another living soul to Asgard’s population. But it was not a newborn soul. This soul was one that Heimdall was already familiar with.     

Heimdall sighed. “Odin will not be pleased.” But even he could not dispel the soft smile that crept across his lips at the picture present in his mind’s eye.

_Two brothers curled together, sleeping peacefully. One the color of the summer sand, and the other the color of a winter frost. And far below them, a tomb empty of both body and soul._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This took me way longer to write than it probably should have but I saw infinity war for the second time last night and everything hurts and I'm dying. I'll probably write more thorki oneshots soon since its all I've been able to think about lately.
> 
> Any kudos or comments are greatly appreciated!


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